DURASNO OROTAVA. 41 eruptions, the last of which happened in 1798, prove the activity of a fire which is far from being extinct. There is, besides, something melancholy in the sight of a crater placed in the midst of a fertile and highlycultivated country. Pursuing their course to the port of Orotava, the travellers passed the beautiful hamlets of Matanza and Vittoria (slaughter and victory),-names which occur together in all the Spanish colonies, and present a disagreeable contrast to the feelings of peace and quiet which these countries inspire. On their way they visited a botanic garden at Durasno, where they found M. Le Gros, the French vice-consul, who subsequently served as an excellent guide to the Peak. The idea of forming such an establishment at Teneriffe originated with the Marquis de Nava, who thought that the Canary Islands afford the most suitable place for naturalizing the plants of the East and West Indies, previous to their introduction to Europe. They arrived very late at the port, and next morning commenced their journey to the Peak, accompanied by M. Le Gros, M. Lalande, secretary of the French consulate at Santa Cruz, the English gardener of Durasno, and a number of guides. Orotava, the Taoro of the Guanches, is situated on a very steep declivity, and has a pleasant aspect when viewed from a distance, although the houses, when seen at hand, have a gloomy appearance. One of the most remarkable objects in this place is the dragon-tree in the garden of M. Franqui, of which an engraving is here presented, and which our travellers found to be about 60 feet high, with a circumference of 48 feet near the roots. The trunk divides into a great number of branches, which rise in the form of a candelabrum, and are terminated by tufts of leaves. This tree is said to have been revered by the Guanches as the ash of Ephesus was by the Greeks; and in 1402, at the time of the first expedition of Bethencour, was as large and as hollow as our travellers found it. As the species is of very slow growth, the age of this individual must be great. It is singular that the dragon-tree should have been cultivated in these islands at so early a period, it being a native of India, and nowhere occurring on the African continent. Leaving Orotava they passed by a narrow and stony path through a beautiful wood of chestnuts to a place covered with brambles, laurels, and arborescent heaths, where, under a solitary pine, known by the name of Pino del Dornajito, they procured a supply of water. From this place to the crater they continued to ascend without crossing a single valley, passing over several regions distinguished by their peculiar vegetation, and rested during part of the night in a very elevated position, where they suffered ASCENT OF THE PEAK. 43 severely from the cold. About three in the morning they began to climb the Sugar-loaf, or small terminal cone, by the dull light of fir-torches, and examined a small subterranean glacier or cave, whence the towns below are supplied with ice throughout the summer. In the twilight they observed a phenomenon not unusual on high mountains,-a stratum of white clouds spread out beneath, concealing the face of the ocean, and presenting the appearance of a vast plain covered with snow. Soon afterward another very curious sight occurred, namely, the semblance of small rockets thrown into the air, and which they at first imagined to be a certain indication of some new eruption of the great volcano of Lancerota. But the illusion soon ceased, and they found that the luminous points were only the images of stars magnified and refracted by the vapours. They remained motionless at intervals, then rose perpendicularly, descended sidewise, and returned to their original position. After three hours' march over an extremely rugged tract, the travellers reached a small plain, called La Rambleta, from the centre of which rises the Piton or Sugar-loaf. The slope of this cone, covered with volcanic ashes and pumice, is so steep that it would have been almost impossible to reach the summit, had they not ascended by an old current of lava, which had in some measure resisted the action of the atmosphere. On attaining the top of this steep they found the crater surrounded by a wall of compact lava, in which, however, there was a breach affording a passage to the bottom of the funnel or caldera, the greatest diameter of which at the mouth seemed to be 320 feet. There were no large openings in the crater; but aqueous vapours were emitted by some of the crevices, in which heat was perceptible. In fact, the volcano has not been active at the summit for thousands of years, its eruptions having been 44 PEAK OF TENERIFFE. from the sides, and the depth of the crater is only about 106 feet. After examining the objects that presented themselves in this elevated spot, and enjoying the vast prospect, the travellers commenced their descent, and towards evening reached the port of Orotava. The Peak of Teneriffe forms a pyramidal mass, having a circumference at the base of more than115,110 yards, and a height of 12,176 feet.* Twothirds of the mass are covered with vegetation, the remaining part being steril, and occupying about ten square leagues of surface. The cone is very small in proportion to the size of the mountain, it having a height of only 537 feet, or of the whole. The lower part of the island is composed of basalt and other igneous rocks of ancient formation, and is separated from the more recent lavas, and the products of the present volcano, by strata of tufa, puzzolana, and clay. The first that occur in ascending the Peak are of a black colour, altered by decomposition, and sometimes porous. Their basis is wacke, and has usually an irregular, but sometimes a conchoidal fracture. They are divided into very thin layers, and contain olivine, magnetic iron, and augite. On the first elevated plain, that of Retama, the basaltic deposites disappear beneath heaps of ashes and pumice. Beyond this are lavas, with a basis of pitch-stone and obsidian, of blackishbrown, or deep olive-green colour, and containing * Various measurements have been made of the height of the Peak of Teneriffe; but Humboldt, after enumerating fourteen, states that the fol lowing alone can be considered as deserving of confidence: Borda's, by trigonometry ........1905 toises. Cordier's, by the same...........1920 The average of these four observations makes the height 1926 toises; but if the barometric measurement of Borda be rejected, as liable to objections particularly stated by our author, the mean of the remaining measurement is 1909 toises, or 12,208 English feet. It is seen above, that the height adopted by Humboldt is 1904 toises, or 12,176 English feet. VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS. 45 crystals of felspar, which are seldom vitreous. In the middle of the Malpays, or second platform, are found, among the glassy kinds, blocks of greenishgray clinkstone or porphyry-slate. Obsidian of several varieties is exceedingly abundant on the Peak, as well as pumice, the latter being generally of a white colour; and the crater contains an enormous quantity of sulphur. The oldest written testimony in regard to the activity of the volcano dates at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and is contained in the narrative of Aloysio Cadamusto, who landed in the Canaries in 1505. In 1558, 1646, and 1677, eruptions took place in the Isle of Palma; and on the 31st December, 1704, the Peak of Teneriffe exhibited a lateral burst, preceded by tremendous earthquakes. On the 5th January, 1705, another opening occurred, the lavas produced by which filled the whole valley of Fasnia. This aperture closed on the 13th January ; but on the 2d February, a third formed in the Cannada de Arafo, the stream from which divided into three currents. On the 5th May, 1706, another eruption supervened, which destroyed the populous and opulent city of Garachico. In 1730, on the 1st September, the island of Lancerota was violently convulsed; and on the 9th June, 1798, the Peak emitted a great quantity of matter, which continued to run three months and six days. The island of Teneriffe presents five zones of vegetation, arranged in stages one above another, and occupying a perpendicular height of 3730 yards. 1. The Region of Vines extends from the shores to an elevation varying from 430 to 640 yards, and is the only part carefully cultivated. It exhibits various species of arborescent Euphorbiæ, Mesembryanthema, the Cacalia kleinia, the Dracaena, and other plants, whose naked and tortuous trunks, succulent leaves, and bluish-green tints, constitute features distinctive of the vegetation of Africa. In this |